Dr. Tran Bobble Heads are in production now. There are two kinds - the Blue Shirt Tran and the Maccodity Tran, with Bar Code T-Shirt. They are shipping in very limited runs of 250 units each.
I just finished a job doing concept art coloring for the new Heavy Metal movie, and when I looked back at 100% ICE I was DELIGHTED to find that I had animated a lot more of it than I remembered. Still a lot to do, though.
Mondo Mini-Shows (them fellas that do Happy Tree Friends) is making wild claims about distributing our new shorts (The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun, 100% Ice - and all the old shorts for that matter) with all of their HTF cartoons online. To do that, we might have to pull all of the bootleg Dr. Trans down from Youtube and everywhere else. This might be challenging as the web has amassed a mighty number of illegal Tran copies over the years.
So if your embedded Dr. Tran link (on MySpace, or on your blog, etc.) suddenly goes dead, just know that we are only punishing you for your total disregard for the law. Then come check here for the new links.
Bobble Sculpt Thursday
April.03.08 | 7:00 PM
Sculptor Yawu Ding of Symbiote Studios is speeding along on this almost-finished Dr. Tran Bobble Head Sculpt. A couple more small revisions, like lining up the ears and thinning down the legs from the side, and it's done.
Who knew Tran was so adorable in profile? Meet Sculptor Yawu Ding Tuesday
March.25.08 | 7:41 PM
Sculptor Yawu Ding of Symbiote Studios is pictured below, working on the Dr. Tran Bobble Head. The final bobble head will be a blue shirt Tran design, as opposed to the "Moccodity" bar code design pictured on his monitor.
Quiet Log Time LIVE Tuesday
March.25.08 | 12:33 AM
This is one of my favorite pictures of Dr. Tran - Pixel Tran by my friend and creative partner Simeon Wilkins. I keep it set as the wallpaper on my phone, and made (buy one of these)T-shirts out of it. Click the image below for a free! 1600 x 1200 Desktop Wallpaper.
Simeon has storyboarded numerous feature films, including Monster House, Beowulf and the WB horror film I worked on, Trick 'r Treat (release date TBA). He is responsible for designing the truly awesome THOU ART DEAD video game in Monster House. When I saw it, I asked him for an 8-bit Tran.
New Spike Show Sunday
Feb.3.08 | 10:34 AM
Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation 2008 has started touring in San Francisco and Texas. Included in the lineup is Dr. Tran Summer Splash and, in the current venues, the half-finished version of The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun which played at the San Diego Comic-Con. We didn't have Final Bun in time for the first theater dates. The next set of dates will (hopefully) contain the new version of the film.
The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun, additional still image for your amusement. The film was completed a few days ago.
I'm editing together the animatic for the Dr. Tran short, 100% ICE. This one is in the eight-minute range again, like Here Comes Dr. Tran and Toy Cack. I've been criticized in the past for dragging jokes out, and leaving in too much material from our lavishly over-written scripts. Which I totally do. But I try to counter that with shorts like Quiet Log Time.
Trying to cater to the attention span of the average YouTube screwbag is a waste of time, and if I don't like one of our films in the end, I suppose it isn't worth spending all this time on. So get your shit ready for one unmercifully verbose old man. The Vending Machine Tuesday
Jan.29.08 | 12:51 PM
New still from FRUIT HAT: a lonely vending machine at the 50th St. subway station. This film is taking forever. The great thing about Dr. Tran is that he allows us to make any kind of film we want to see, and any two "episodes" can be totally dissimilar. So if I want to labor over a mini horror movie that takes an eternity to make, Dr. Tran happily fits right in. makes me happy Sunday
Jan.27.08 | 9:24 PM
I am remarkably thrilled about these new button and magnet sets. We've also got new Furious Little Cinnamon Bun T-Shirts. Buy some? Dr. Tran on The Tonight Show Saturday
Jan.26.2008 | 4:33 AM
Update: The video has already been taken down. It was a clip from the "Headlines" bit on the Tonight Show. Someone had sent in some Photoshopped Dr. Tran fan art (scroll down) and Leno actually said "Hickory Smoked Horse Buttholes" on NBC.
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From YouTube:
"January 21st [2008 Tonight Show] bit with headlines and ads included a weird flavor I remember hearing before... and who's the little guy in the corner?"
Below is the Fan Art sent in by John Ramirez. Someone must have published it somewhere - in an article about the Spike and Mike Festival maybe? And then someone clipped it and sent it to Jay Leno. Anyone know where this was printed?
Furious Bun is DONE Thursday
Jan.24.2008 | 3:00 AM
I finished up The Furious Little Cinnamon Bun a few minutes ago, and burned the disc to ship to Spike & Mike's in the morning. I'll be staying up until the post office opens at 8:30. I am nocturnal again.
Bun is a three minute film about a Cinnamon Bun who gets all furious and accidentally kills a Shave Ice Baby. The version of this film that played at the San Diego Comic-Con was a bit undercooked, and the audience reaction - though mostly positive - helped us iron out the problems.
Cute Leland Walk Monday
Jan.21.2008 | 12:00 AM
Animator Daniel Sunday
Jan.20.2008 | 1:26 AM
Meet Daniel-san! He's helping out with some animation on the expensive looking Fruit Hat film. I can animate only so much of our films - I was never trained in animation. So when it comes down to the gritty stuff, I quit dickin' around and call in the hardened pros. Juni's Voice Session Saturday
January.19.2008 | 8:30 AM
Pictures from Thursday night - this here is a recording session with Juni, voice of Leland, which finishes up the vocals for 100% ICE. We also snuck in some recording for two of the other new shorts. Juni did a hilarious job as usual and had us laughing in horrible pain.
Much of 100% ICE is an exploration of the new Grandpa character, but in the end, Leland pretty much steals the show.
And this is Sound Engineer Andrew who has taken over for Matt on the recording and sound FX end of things, now that Matt has moved on to a job where he can no longer get us free recording time. We still love you, little Matt.
And yeah, I'm still awake after staying up and editing the audio tracks together all night. A new animator named Daniel is coming by to work on Fruit Hat at 3PM today. Hopefully I'll be asleep by 9.
100% ICE Monday
January.14.2008 | 5:28 AM
A new still (work in progress) from one of the four short films now in production. This one involves an elderly man dishin' out the wisdom on how the kids might better peddle their lame little wares.
It's called 100% ICE.
Happy Birthday Grandpa Wednesday
January.2.2008 | 3:19 AM
Happy New Year!
Some old sketches today - first are early versions of Leland and Fat Friend, the kids in the pool in Summer Splash. This is back when Leland was a human boy and Fat Friend was mulleted, goat-eyed and cheerful.
These were initially designed as Beyond Grandpa characters.
Come to think of it, Beyond Grandpa's 10th Anniversary is probably soon - or maybe already passed.
Cripes.
And above, the first sketchbook doodle of Leland as a cough drop wearing floaties. He just makes more sense to me this way. Leland is probably the first character Jason and I created together, back when we were freshmen in high school. We wrote an animated short called Leland's Trip to The Farm, but we never finished it.
